Podcasts about Playdom

My guest today is the American video game developer Steve Meretzky. Born and raised in Yonkers, New York, he attended MIT, where he earned a degree in construction management. In 1981, after two years spent working in the construction industry, a friend asked him if he would like to become a tester for Infocom, a publisher that specialised in interactive fiction. He agreed and was soon invited to write a game of his own, the science fiction game Planetfall.After he included a reference to Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the game, my guest was invited to collaborate with Adams in adapting the novel into a best-selling game. In 1988 he wrote A Mind Forever Voyaging, an ambitious and politically charged work that stretched the boundaries of what a video game could do ––and saw him become one of the first interactive fiction writers admitted to the Science Fiction Writers of America.After stints working for Blue Fang Games, Playdom and King, he is currently VP of design at the mobile games company PeopleFun.LINKSBBC Documentary from 1985 takes us inside Infocom.Play 30th Anniversary Edition of Hitchhiker's Guide in your browser.Google's AI experiment with Zork...Hire Ed Hawkins to voice your game. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of the Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different we have a conversation with Mike Maples Jr., co-founder of Floodgate, about his new book "Pattern Breakers." We explore the concept of Pattern Breakers, non-consensus thinking, and the breakthrough sequence for startups. Mike shares some insights on the role of language in defining new patterns and the significance of early adopters. The conversation provides valuable perspectives on the mindset and strategies essential for entrepreneurial breakthroughs and category design. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Mike Maples Jr on Understanding Pattern Breakers Mike Maples Jr. introduces the concept of pattern breakers as individuals or companies that disrupt the status quo by proposing radically different futures. These entities don't just imagine a different future; they live in it, tinkering with new technologies and experiencing firsthand the opportunities to break the limits of current thinking, feeling, and acting. Mike also discusses non-consensus thinking, and how is crucial it is for pattern breakers. It involves challenging widely accepted norms and beliefs to create transformative value. He emphasizes that breakthrough startups often face resistance from the present and the status quo, making it essential for founders to be disagreeable in the right situations. The Breakthrough Sequence for Startups The first step in the breakthrough sequence is achieving insight breakthroughs. Founders need to immerse themselves in the future they envision, understanding new opportunities and creating new patterns. Mike uses examples of legendary founders like Marc Andreessen and Bob Metcalfe, who were visitors from the future, to illustrate this point. Once insight breakthroughs are achieved, the next step is to achieve product-market fit. This involves building what's missing for early adopters and lighthouse customers, who play a crucial role in shaping the direction of a startup. Founders must listen to these early believers and co-create the future with them. The final step in the breakthrough sequence is driving growth. This involves creating a movement and category design, gradually moving more people to the envisioned future. Mike highlights the importance of using differentiated language to escape the comparison trap and the conformity trap, leading people into a different future. The Role of Big Companies in Creating Breakthroughs Big companies can also create breakthroughs by harnessing inflections and insights to change the future. Mike discusses different approaches big companies can take, such as sustaining innovation, organic growth, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and partnering. However, he also acknowledges the challenges and biases that come with being a successful company. One effective strategy for big companies is backcasting, where leaders stand in the future and look back to the present, envisioning how they achieved a radically different future. This approach helps companies switch their mental scaffolding from being in the present and looking forward to being in the future and looking back to the present. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr on Pattern Breakers and creating breakthroughs for your company, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom, Chegg, Demandforce, Rappi, Smule, and Outreach. Link Connect with Mike Maples Jr.! Floodgate | Twitter | LinkedIn | Starting Greatness Podcast Check out Mike's new book, Pattern Breakers! Amazon Books | Porchlight Books | Starting Greatness | Patte...

How do you diversify the workplace? Former Opentable CEO Christa Quarles found that it's about more than meeting quotas: Workplace leaders instead have to focus on fixing the process. In this episode, Kim and Wesley speak with Christa about her strategies for increasing gender diversity at Opentable. She also shares tips for overcoming imposter syndrome.Christa Quarles serves as Alludo's CEO and sits on the company's Board of Directors. Joining the company in 2020, Christa is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience leading companies and spearheading financial and operational initiatives. As CEO of OpenTable, she led a period of transformational change, successfully navigating the company's transition to cloud-based, small business solutions, and drove meaningful bottom- and top-line growth across its global operations. Christa also recently served as an Operating Partner at Advent International. Prior to joining OpenTable, she served as Chief Business Officer of Nextdoor, a marketplace connecting local communities to small businesses. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Vice President, Interactive Games at The Walt Disney Company, where she led Disney Interactive to profitability. Christa also served as Chief Financial Officer of Playdom, which was later acquired by Disney. Prior to that, she held the role of Partner in Equity Research covering the internet sector at Thomas Weisel Partners LLC (now Stifel Financial).Christa also currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Affirm and Kimberly-Clark. She received a BS in Economics and German from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

On this episode of Lochhead on Marketing, we have a dialogue with Mike Maples Jr. on how artificial intelligence is changing startups and venture capital. Mike Maples Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate, one of the highest profile early stage venture capitalists. He also has a podcast called Starting Greatness, and it is one of my absolute favorites. By the end of it, we hope that you'll gain a new way to think about both technical risk for startups and market risk. And why in an AI world, you must either be radically different or radically disintermediate something. Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing. The number one charting marketing podcast for marketers, category designers, and entrepreneurs with a different mind. Mike Maples Jr. on AI We begin the discussion on the topic of challenges of making sense of the rapidly evolving field of AI. Mike also talks about the traditional funding model of startups, where the primary focus was taking out technical risk, and how the LAMP stack, which commoditized what was once expensive, made it easier to start a startup. Mike notes that the nature of the LAMP stack changed what startups were funded for. “What I like to say is that the LAMP stack was deflationary in terms of the cost of starting startup. And so what does that mean? It meant that what you were funding was different, because if Kevin Rose can start dig for $1,500, over a weekend, there's no technical risks there. I mean, he hired a contractor to do it that he didn't even know at the time.” – Mike Maples Jr. Who gets Product Market Fit first The conversation then moves on to the changing dynamics of venture capital investment. The discussion continues with the notion that technical risk and market risk are inversely related. Solving a technically difficult problem that is valuable to society will create a market; if the problem is easy to solve technically, it will all come down to who achieves product-market fit first. To add value to the business, Floodgate and YC have taken the approach of funding market risk takedown. As technology becomes more commoditized and innovations become more accessible, the person who creates something people want the quickest wins. This is why YC was so successful: it offered young people $100,000 to either take market risks or leave. He also mentions that the traditional venture capital model may not be appropriate for all businesses and that deflationary factors such as content, code, and data may change the way businesses are built. Mike Maples Jr. on AI and the future of Venture Capital Mike Maples Jr. then returns to the topic of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of venture capital. Here, Mike emphasizes two ends of the risk spectrum: high technical risk and high market risk. On the one hand, some projects require large amounts of funding for mass computation in order to build massive models that have the potential to change humanity. On the other hand, AI is being used in a variety of fields, including content generation for marketing, customer service chatbots, and lead generation, resulting in a deflationary effect on content, code, and data. According to Mike, some businesses may not require traditional venture capital funding and should instead focus on achieving $50 million in revenue with a small team and minimal funding. There is also speculation that the current billion-dollar funds may be providing the wrong incentives to these companies. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and how AI can affect the future of startups and venture capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom, Chegg, Demandforce, Rappi, Smule, and Outreach. Link

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a dialogue with Mike Maples Jr. on how artificial intelligence is changing startups and venture capital. Mike Maples Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate, one of the highest profile early stage venture capitalists. He also has a podcast called Starting Greatness, and it is one of my absolute favorites. By the end of it, we hope that you'll gain a new way to think about both technical risk for startups and market risk. And why in an AI world, you must either be radically different or radically disintermediate something. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Mike Maples Jr. on AI We begin the discussion on the topic of challenges of making sense of the rapidly evolving field of AI. Mike also talks about the traditional funding model of startups, where the primary focus was taking out technical risk, and how the LAMP stack, which commoditized what was once expensive, made it easier to start a startup. Mike notes that the nature of the LAMP stack changed what startups were funded for. “What I like to say is that the LAMP stack was deflationary in terms of the cost of starting startup. And so what does that mean? It meant that what you were funding was different, because if Kevin Rose can start dig for $1,500, over a weekend, there's no technical risks there. I mean, he hired a contractor to do it that he didn't even know at the time.” – Mike Maples Jr.   Who gets Product Market Fit first The conversation then moves on to the changing dynamics of venture capital investment. The discussion continues with the notion that technical risk and market risk are inversely related. Solving a technically difficult problem that is valuable to society will create a market; if the problem is easy to solve technically, it will all come down to who achieves product-market fit first. To add value to the business, Floodgate and YC have taken the approach of funding market risk takedown. As technology becomes more commoditized and innovations become more accessible, the person who creates something people want the quickest wins. This is why YC was so successful: it offered young people $100,000 to either take market risks or leave. He also mentions that the traditional venture capital model may not be appropriate for all businesses and that deflationary factors such as content, code, and data may change the way businesses are built. Mike Maples Jr. on AI and the future of Venture Capital Mike Maples Jr. then returns to the topic of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of venture capital. Here, Mike emphasizes two ends of the risk spectrum: high technical risk and high market risk. On the one hand, some projects require large amounts of funding for mass computation in order to build massive models that have the potential to change humanity. On the other hand, AI is being used in a variety of fields, including content generation for marketing, customer service chatbots, and lead generation, resulting in a deflationary effect on content, code, and data. According to Mike, some businesses may not require traditional venture capital funding and should instead focus on achieving $50 million in revenue with a small team and minimal funding. There is also speculation that the current billion-dollar funds may be providing the wrong incentives to these companies. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and how AI can affect the future of startups and venture capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom,

My guest is Tim Chang. He has over two decades of broad early-stage technology investment experience in Silicon Valley at Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, and Gabriel Venture Partners and has been named to the Forbes Midas List and the AlwaysOn Power Players of top investors. Tim has led early-stage investments in Iridigm, Playdom, ngmoco, Basis, AdChina, Moat, Classpass, Tonal Fitness, TRIPP, and Grove Collaborative creating more than $4B in total exit value.  Beyond just making successful investments, Tim is deeply committed to supporting startups and organizations that bring about greater consciousness, connection, and healing in the world. Tim serves on the non-profit boards of several organizations, including California Institute of Integral Studies, Reimagine Death, and Gray Area Arts. With his unique background and expertise, Tim will share his insights on how to create a world that's more conscious, connected, and healing through technology.We talked about:(0:41) Are you going through a midlife crisis? Find out how to turn it into a midlife chrysalis.(8:41) Are you struggling to find your own story? Discover the power of storytelling and how to find yours.(13:12) Do you want to unlock the power of your social network? Learn how to find your superpowers through play.(25:13) Want to understand the underlying forces of companies and individuals? Hear Tim's mental model.(27:46) Are you looking for transformation? Learn about the power of cohort-based learning.(30:47) Do you want to surround yourself with a peer group that will help you achieve your goals? Discover Tim's criteria for choosing his peer group.(37:16) Do you need help clarifying who you are? Find out Tim's counterintuitive approach.(42:20) Are you interested in the intersection of AI and humanity? Hear Tim's perspective on the ultimate child of humanity.(50:15) Are you interested in conscious business? Learn about the necessity of the Conscious MBA program.

Raph Koster is an entrepreneur, game designer, and author of a Theory of Fun for Game Design. He is currently CEO of playable worlds. He was Lead Designer on pioneering MMO Ultima Online, and Creative Director of Star Wars Galaxies. He founded Metaplace in 2006, which was acquired by the social gaming company Playdom.

This podcast interview focuses on product innovation that has the power to make becoming data-driven easier than ever before. My guest is Peter Fishman, Co-founder, and CEO of Mozart Data Dr. Peter Fishman has over a decade of experience running data and data-adjacent teams at companies like Microsoft, Yammer, Opendoor, Playdom, and Eaze. He realized that he was building the same types of modern data stacks at each company. Taking a broader perspective, he saw many other companies building a data stack over and over again. This inspired him, and his co-founder, Dan, to found Mozart Data in 2020.  Mozart Data is on a mission to make it easy for anyone to set up a modern data stack, without a data engineer, in under an hour. Why does this matter? Because that enables 10x more employees to get access to data, it decreases the time to insight by 76% and delivers 30% cost savings compared to assembling your own data stack.  And that inspired me, and hence I invited Peter to my podcast. We explore what's broken around the way we can embrace the full potential of data. Peter explains his vision of what can be when we can leverage the power of data as a first principle versus an afterthought. He shares his lessons learned around what a SaaS application has to excel at to overcome the trust issues customers have and create a sustainable business from the start. Here are some of his quotes:  The idea of, let's build everything and let's be good at everything. And I think like this is like, almost the kiss of death. Customers don't want good. Customers want the best. You might say, well, the customer won't know the difference between good and the best. They will know the difference.  What I think of as the way to win business is you have a small contract, and you expand with a combination of the startup and the impact that you're having. So, as you're helpful, that sort of growth within the company, ends up being sort of a no brainer.  During this interview, you will learn four things: That you can build a thriving business by working closely with your competitors  That customers want the best product in the market - whether we like it or not. The opportunity is: they define 'best' - no one else. What principles to follow to grow solid traction around adoption When you know your vision is clear and powerful enough For more information about the guest from this week: Peter Fishman Website Mozart Data Subscribe to the Daily Value Inspiration Stressed by the thought of ‘not enough' traction? Eager to know how to remove the roadblocks that slow down your entire SaaS business? Then Subscribe here It's a short daily reflection on how to shape a B2B SaaS business your customers would miss if it were gone.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, @IPProfEvans welcomes entertainment and marketing maven Summer Watson to the show to talk about the “future of creativity”, web3 IP ownership, and the essential role of people of color and women in this next iteration of the web. She is an active partner and investor in several consumer music, fintech, data, AI and gaming companies and currently serves as president of one of Fast Company's 2022 10 most innovative media companies of 2022, WYE Media, cultivator of AKU, a futuristic character created by former MLB player turned artist, Micah Johnson, after hearing a young boy ask, “Can astronauts be black?” Summer is a consumer product and marketing veteran, having held founding and executive positions at industry leading companies, including Heir with Pusha-T, Playdom (acquired by Disney), TuneIn, Pocket Gems/Episode, Skybound, CS Global and Vol. 1. POWERED BY ADVANTAGE EVANS™ ACADEMY  With Bitcoin and Ethereum leading the way, the cryptocurrency market is booming. And growing. With thousands of different types of crypto (and counting), crypto is a fast-paced, fast moving emerging asset class. Find out what banks, governments, and companies like Paypal don't want you to know about owning crypto and holding it in your own wallet or self-guided crypto IRA. Bottom line? It's a wave. And you deserve this opportunity to ride it all the way to financial freedom that leads to economic empowerment and generational wealth. LEARN safely, legally and confidently while you LEARN so you CAN:transform your relationship with moneygenerate wealth in the new digital cash economycreate digital ownership streams that lead to generational wealthvet, buy, store, trade, earn, and sell cryptocurrenciesengage in “defi” to lend and leverage your cryptocreate, buy and trade creative and collectible NFTsMembership includes: monthly live masterclasseslive Q&A with our expertsactive learning milestonesheadlines and hot topicsreplay libraryresources Bank (a $500 value)preferred access to invite-only eventspreferred pricing for courses and eventsdiscounted 1:1 sessions (regularly $1,000) Join now at advantageevans.com/specialGuest Contact:https://www.aku.world/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerwatson/ https://twitter.com/surgicalsummer https://www.instagram.com/summerwatson.v1/ Show Contact:Questions and requests: hello@techintersectpodcast.com Follow: Twitter @AtTechIntersect | Instagram @TechIntersect Web: Tech Intersect Podcast  Connect for exclusive content: http://eepurl.com/gKqDyP Rapternal Music (Regulate and The Rabbit Hole) by Notty Productions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Produced by Tonya M. Evans for Advantage Evans, LLC, and Stephanie Renee for Creator's Child Prod. Support the show

Episode sixteen of DrinksWithAVC features standout guest, Matt McCall of Pritzker Group, lauded as one of the top 100 VCs in the U.S. and recognized as a power player in media and Hollywood. Vik and Bree delve into Matt's political roots, discuss the philosophical influences that drive his investment strategies, and engage with his insights on the potential of an economic downturn. Matt also sheds light on the McCall Family Foundation's mission for social entrepreneurship and women's rights. Don't miss this compelling conversation that traverses past, present, and future.Links:www.pritzkergroup.com/venture-capitalwww.twitter.com/pritzkervcwww.somethingventured.com (Matt's blog)www.1kproject.org/ (Ukraine support)www.amzn.com/dp/B007XF3SD6/ (Porron wine pitcher)www.amzn.com/dp/1611808308/ (The Heroine's Journey)www.amzn.com/dp/B00R3MHWUE/ (The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership)www.linkedin.com/in/breehanson/www.tripp.comThe first 5 people to reach out to Bree on her LinkedIn will get a lifetime pass to Tripp, the Best VR Meditation/Wellness Experience

085 David Sobeski is the SVP of Data and Analytics at Adidas. Prior to Adidas, he was the SVP of Philanthropy Cloud at Salesforce, the SVP of Innovation at Nordstrom, and CTO at The Walt Disney Company and Playdom. He also served as the SVP of Yahoo and an executive at Microsoft, where he worked on Windows, Internet Explorer, Mobile and many other high profile products.   Check out our brand new YouTube Video Podcast!  https://www.SmartVenturePod.com IG/Twitter/FB @GraceGongGG LinkedIn:@GraceGong YouTube: https://bit.ly/gracegongyoutube Join the SVP fam with your host Grace Gong. In each episode, we are going to have conversations with some of the top investors, super star founders, as well as well known tech executives in the silicon valley. We will have a coffee chat with them to learn their ways of thinking and actionable tips on how to build or invest in a successful company.  

@patojutard Aprendí solo a programar, de forma autodidacta. Pasé horas y horas leyendo cosas online. Antes de terminar el colegio empecé a laburar en el rubro armándole sistemas a los papás de amigos míos. Al terminar el colegio empecé a estudiar Ingeniería Informática, y al toque comencé a laburar en una punto com. Estudiar y trabajar a la vez en la UBA me era imposible por los horarios, por eso me pasé a la UCA. Hice un viaje con @batmelon donde me dijo que se venía el 'advergaming', donde le dabas al consumidor entretenimiento a cambio de posicionamiento. Ahí decidí renunciar a mi trabajo y arrancamos @threemelons. Fue mi salto de programador a emprendedor. En Three Melons hicimos juegos web para Coca Cola, Mattel, Sony, etcétera. Eran juegos complementarios a campañas publicitarias. Hicimos una muy linda experiencia con Lego. En un momento empezamos a ver que era mejor hacer juegos propios que ser una empresa de servicio de desarrollo. Ahí convertimos la empresa, levantamos capital y pasamos a ser una empresa de producto. Empezamos a hacer 'social gaming', o sea, desarrollo de juegos propios que se distribuían a través de las redes sociales. Eran 'free to play' pero podías comprar cositas dentro del juego. Hicimos un juego que se llamó 'Bola' que tuvo muchísimo éxito. Por esta época comenzó nuestro 'coqueteo' con Silicon Valley. En 2010 nos adquiere Playdom con un mix de cash y equity. Funcionó muy bien porque al toque Playdom se vende a Disney y el equity multiplicó por un número considerable. Laburar en Disney fue una muy linda experiencia. Mi única experiencia corporativa. Aprendí mucho de procesos, de compliance, de políticas corporativas, de hacer cosas a otra escala. Después de Disney fuimos a hacer Mural con Mariano. En la corporación estás muy lejos del timón, no estás tomando decisiones estratégicas sino que sos un engranaje en la maquinaria, y eso personalmente no me llenaba la vida. Con Mural nos quedamos sin nafta muchas veces. Hace diez años cuando empezamos no era obvio como hoy el Design Thinking, laburar de forma remota, etcétera. Hoy debemos tener entre 3 y 4 millones de individuos usuarios en Mural. Con el COVID tuvimos que empezar a trabajar de forma virtual y remota, y a Mural eso le cayó como anillo al dedo. Con @NewtopiaVC invertimos en empresas en etapas muy tempranas, idealmente que estén levantando su primera ronda. Vemos tres cosas para invertir: buen equipo, oportunidad y el fit con nuestra visión de futuro. El consejo de @patojutard al Pato de hace 10 años: "Tranquilo, en algún momento el mundo va a valorar lo que estás haciendo. Por otro lado le diría 'festejá más', a lo largo del camino estuve mucho en el estrés/problemas del día a día y no tanto en la celebración de lo logrado. En @NewtopiaVC hacemos un programa de diez semanas donde ayudamos a los emprendedores a escalar y levantar una Serie A eventualmente. https://twitter.com/patriciomolina/status/1434637765954740229?s=20

I mean, it's Steve Meretzky, one of the greatest game writers and puzzle designers of all time. He's also served as VP of Games at King, VP of Creative at GSN, and VP of Game Design at Playdom/Disney. Steve is a hilarious creative force for good, and in this interview he shares stories and insights from his wide ranging and impactful career making games. Interested in contacting or working with Steve? You can find his LinkedIn profile in the show notes.

Two world class industry experts in mobile social casino talk to us today about the latest overview, updates, trends, and predictions for the market. Our guests today include: Brett Nowak, CEO of market research firm Liquid & Grit (www.liquidandgrit.com). Brett was formerly Lead PM on Zynga Poker at Zynga, and was a Director of Product at Blue Shell Games before starting Liquid & Grit. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-now... Lloyd Melnick has an incredible background in social casino working at Merscom, Playdom, Disney, FiveOneNine Games, Spooky Cool Labs, Zynga, and The Stars Group.Lloyd is currently GM of Chumba Casino for VGW and a board member of MURKA. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydmeln... The video version of this interview can be found here on the GameMakers YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/S2qIAYgr7Kw Host: Joseph Kim @jokim1 (Insta, Twitter) Guests: Lloyd Melnick @LloydMelnick (Twitter) Brett Nowak @bnowak15 (Twitter) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/deconstructoroffun/support

In episode 24, I sit with Gil Eyal, CEO of HYPR as we speak about how HYPR came to be and how Mobli which was the Instagram before Instagram helped get him there. Eyal is a pioneer in the influencer space, as he served as the COO of early player photo-sharing app Mobli Media, and worked with influencers ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Pitbull, Lance Armstrong, Lil Wayne and Serena Williams to Nash Grier, Bart Baker, and Cameron Dallas.  In this episode, you will learn the following about Gil; 1) What lesson he learned at his first job at Playdom that has stuck with him till today 2) How he overcame failure (8:40) 3) The pivot- Realizing that the path of HYPR early is not scalable & (19:00) 4) How listening to a VC early paid off big time (22:00) 5) What he looks for in employees 6) Productivity hack (45:40) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is one of the leading experts in the world on games and growth in games. He's a man who who has helped launch & grow many many hit mobile games. He started his gaming career at Playdom, where he helped the game Social City get to 5 million installs in the first week of launch. He was the founding product manager at Scopely, where he helped grow the daily actives for Dice With Buddies 30x. Yes, you heard that right - 30x. Subsequently he moved to Zynga, where he served as the Franchise Lead and Head of Product for the whole Games With Friends portfolio. Right now he's the VP & Commercial Leader at Blizzard Entertainment.  I had a chance to meet Josh when I was at Zynga not too long ago. I found him incredibly generous with his time and knowledge - and always eager to see people around him succeed. Today's conversation is a master-class on games, and about what happens behind the scenes that makes games such enjoyable experiences. If you've wondered about why hundreds of millions of players love Candy Crush, Farmville or Words With Friends and spend many many hours on these games, this interview has some answers. We talk about the early days of social gaming, the elements that make games habit-forming experiences and how Josh thinks about making, growing and learning about games. We also talk about how the same elements that make for great games also make services like, say, Spotify compelling. I always learn so much every time I listen to Josh - and I'm thrilled for this conversation. KEY HIGHLIGHTSThe secret to unlocking virality of games as a growth product manager, even as the bar for sharing content on social platforms has gotten higherHow Josh and his team found opportunities to improve upon an established game like Words With Friends 2How Words With Friends 2 was intentional about making it to the top of iTunes charts.How the concept of “core loop design” increases user retention for digital products What sets the games that have survived the longest apart from othersJosh's strategy for gleaning research from new games without playing them allWhy Josh says you need a “two-legged stool” on your teamCheck out the full transcript and show notes here:https://howthingsgrow.co/art-science-making-games-fun-with-josh-lu-vp-blizzard-entertainment/**Get more goodies here:http://MobileUserAcquisitionShow.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog

This week Mats talks to  David Sobeski in a conversation that lasted for nearly 3 hours so it will come in 2 parts. In part 1 we cover: David talks about how he grow up in an American middle class family in Pennsylvania on the US East Coast. He talks about his early interest for computers and how he got his first computer as an 8 year old and started to program very early. David is also sharing the experience from his university years and he early on learnt to under promise and over deliver. He talks about the importance of being a user of things, to be a listener and never loose your eyes of innocence when building products and that there are no dumb questions. He shares the experience from one of his first jobs at IBM and how he worked on the first smartphone ever, the IBM Simon phone and also how he left IBM because he didn't want to wear a tie. He also talks about how it was to work for Bill Gates at Microsoft and how Bill Gates was in meetings and as a manager. He talks extensively about Microsoft and how a lot of strong technologist strived to build the best products and out beat the competition. We learn about David's time at Yahoo and why Yahoo never became what Google is today. He tells us about his close relationship with Steve Jobs and the conversations they used to have around future of computing.He explains why it should be called Computer Art rather than Computer Science. Listen to a truly inspiring technologist. Support the show

Mariano Suarez-Battan. He’s the founder and CEO of MURAL, a digital whiteboard for exploring complex challenges visually. Global 2000 companies like IBM, Intuit, Steelcase, and Autodesk have deployed MURAL at scale to enhance collaboration in their digital workplace. A former startup in residence at IDEO, Mariano also founded Three Melons, a game studio that designed and published online games like Bola, which was acquired by Playdom and Disney in 2010. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Purple Cow What CEO do you follow? – Aaron Lewis Favorite online tool? — LinkedIn How many hours of sleep do you get?— 8 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – To trust in your gut always   Time Stamped Show Notes: 02:12 – Bola has created games for large brands like Lego 02:23 – Back then, the social games industry was moving fast with Zynga, Playfirst and Playdom 02:31 – Mariano thought that, strategically, it made sense to grow bigger with those companies 02:45 – It was also a great decision, financially and professionally 03:00 – Mariano started Bola in Argentina 03:24 – Acquisition price was with stock and equity 04:12 – The cash was $4-5M 04:26 – $600K was the payback for the investors 04:44 – MURAL was a startup in residence in IDEO 05:03 – IDEO brought in Collaborative Fund as a funder for MURAL 05:10 – MURAL’s vision is to make every designer share their design thinking globally 05:36 – IDEO was like an incubator 05:49 – Prior to IDEO, MURAL has raised closed to $1M 05:59 – Collaborative Fund invested money on MURAL while IDEO made MURAL known to big companies like IBM 06:33 – Some of IDEO’s DNA are in MURAL 07:00 – MURAL’s pricing 07:02 – $12 per member per month and billed annually, $16 billed monthly 07:10 – The pricing on the website is for online customers 07:23 – A quarter of their customers are online and the rest are enterprise costumers 07:46 – MURAL is a SaaS business 08:22 – MURAL has over 40K active users monthly 08:58 – MURAL has no free plan but has introduced a free education plan to help kids 11:00 – MRR is around $280K 11:11 – Average ARR 12:06 – Currently, MURAL has raised a total of $2.4M 12:16 – Team size is 35 12:45 – Most are in product development and engineering 12:55 – Office is located in San Francisco 13:30 – Gross monthly churn 14:17 – Some of the customers are entrepreneurs selling to multiple departments 15:23 – MURAL churn on online customers is quite high 15:38 – Average cost per new customer 15:55 – One of MURAL’s new customer is from an event they’ve sponsored 16:04 – The cost of the sponsorship with other expenses was $3K 16:29 – What Mariano does is split up general cost with the number of new customers 16:50 – Gross margin is around 85% 18:45 – The Famous Five   3 Key Points: The investment in your company doesn’t always need to be cash. Before going into an acquisition or partnership, go on a vacation and think about it with a clear head. Having different revenue sources leads to different churn sources—focus on where churn is the least.   Resources Mentioned: The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Dave Rohrl has more than 22 years experience designing and producing online games for a mass audience. Over the course of his career, he has led design or production on more than 50 games and overseen or consulted on dozens more and held senior positions at Pogo, PopCap, Zynga, and Playdom.

Dave Rohrl has more than 22 years experience designing and producing online games for a mass audience.  Over the course of his career, he has led design or production on more than 50 games and overseen or consulted on dozens more and held senior positions at Pogo, PopCap, Zynga, and Playdom. In this episode, we discuss the design process, especially as it pertains to preproduction on casual games. Listen to learn why he encourages bad code and art early in the process and many of the tactics he brings to bear in order to achieve "fun" fast.   Visit www.playmakerspodcast.com to get access to the full blog post for this episode and much more!

Tim Chang is a Managing Director @ Mayfield Fund and Tim was referred to me by many other VCs as 'the fittest man in silicon Valley', notable tech publications even write it. His eclecticness does not stop there as he is also a musician in 3 bands and a serious body hacker. As for his investments, he has had AdChina (acquired by Alibaba), Playdom (acquired by Disney) and Basis (acquired by Intel) just to name a few. Prior to Mayfield, he spent time at notable institutions including General Motors and Norwest Venture Partners. It is not only us that appreciate Tim’s skills though as he has also been named to ‘Top 100 Innovators’ on Forbes Midas List for 2 years running.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Tim made his way into the wonderful world of VC following Stanford Business School? 2.) How did Tim's perspective of starting VC around 9/11 shape his perspective coming into the industry? Why does Tim believe you need to see multiple cycles to be a good VC? 3.) Where are theWhy does Tim believe that startups need to be better capitalised than they currently are in the early days? Why does Tim argue for the existence of the Series B Crunch? 4.) How does Tim view the creation of a business model for machine learning? What are the 2 elements that founders need to consider before deciding in a pricing mechanism? 5.) How does Tim evaluate machine learning startups today in the plethora that have been created over the last few years? How does Tim determine true machine learning talent? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Tim’s Fave Book: Nexus  Tim's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Wait But Why Tim’s Most Recent Investment: Next Entertainment As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Tim on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. The Simba Hybrid. The most advanced mattress in the world. With a unique combination of two thousand five hundred conical pocket springs and responsive memory foam, it offers the perfect support for two people. A mattress that responds to you and your partner’s sleeping patterns. Delivered free, with a one hundred night sleep trial, free returns and a ten year guarantee. Start your free trial at simbasleep.com Cirrus Insight is a plugin for sales pros who use Gmail and Outlook.  It automatically updates activities in Salesforce so you don’t have to.  It was named #41 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies, and it has more than 1,700 customer reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange. Today, it serves over 150,000 sales people across 5,000 organizations using Gmail, Outlook, iPhone, iPad, and Android. Cirrus Insight is perfect for sales, support, and success teams who want to save time, schedule 3x more appointments, track email opens and much more with Salesforce information at their fingertips in the inbox. www.cirrusinsight.com/20VC    

About this episode's guest: CEO of OpenTable, which was founded nearly 20 years ago Previously CFO of Playdom, which was acquired by Disney in 2010 Left "armchair quarterbacking" on Wall Street for the gaming industry Topics covered in this episode: Broadening the scope of possibilities through technology Balancing a simultaneously mature and entrepreneurial environment Being an innovator in a traditional industry  

As I am coping with the loss of the game and the loss of one of my favorite shows I have ever done I ran into issues starting the show. But because we are a great team. Ibbott takes the wheel and the show carries on as I fix my tech issues. Shortly into it, I jump in and away we go. We were fortunate enough to be joined live by Paul Klotz, Uncle George, King Fisher, and Chris Wisdom. This was an Irish wake indeed where we celebrated the life of the game and what brought us to it. The saddest part for me as a whole was hearing Ibbott's final "The boss has fled" and then seeing the final render button for this episode. It has been a phenomenal run of episodes and experiences that have taken us to places we would never have thought we could go and introduced us to people we otherwise wouldn't have met. As is said in the show feel free to write in your stories and thoughts and we will put them on the site, on the facebook page, and in the newsletter.Thank you all again for coming along for this glorious ride and for being a part of something I love.Truly and sincerely,Charles McFall

Our 1st show since the news broke around the end of the game. Join us in celebrating the game that has brought us together over the last 4 year.- SpOp 36 lauched - Adam Warlock the final reward hero- White Tiger became the last General Release hero- we share some great memories and stories of the game.- The feels come into play starting with the audio segments from everybody and continuing on throughout the emails.We have one more show to go so get those emails in.

We tackle a lot of new content and awesomeness in this episode! - Chapter 11 'Rise of the Serpent' has arrived Mokk, Breaker of Faith (Black Knight) & Greithoth, the Breaker of Wills (Ghost Rider) are the rewards for this enthralling Chapter- Chapter 12 at the end of the month.....- PvP 32 continues with 6 days remaining with Phyla-Vell a.k.a. Martyr the ADA prize - Hear about a new way to think about your team load out.- Lock box opening how will our hosts luck hold up in their attempt to unlock Ronan, the latest LB character.Help us build a better community and influence the growth of the game. Join Patreon today! You get a great community, rewards, exclusive contests and more! Check out thehelicarrier.com for Strategy and News articles as well as the entire podcast archive!Email FromTheHelicarrier@gmail.com 

We review the multitude of sales released this week * New Iso’s SALE * Summer family SALE * Flight Suit SALE – PVP 32 has begun battle win Phyla-Vell a.k.a. Martyr * and earn LB’s to unlock Ronan, the latest LB character Playdom release the artwork for the next worthy Mokk, Breaker of Faith (Black […] The post FTH #153 "Here come the Summer's " first appeared on From the Helicarrier.

We review the multitude of sales released this week * New Iso’s SALE * Summer family SALE * Flight Suit SALE – PVP 32 has begun battle win Phyla-Vell a.k.a. Martyr * and earn LB’s to unlock Ronan, the latest LB character Playdom release the artwork for the next worthy Mokk, Breaker of Faith (Black […]

In part 2 Eric dives deep into his career as a professional animator and what it's like working as a freelancer. He discusses what it was like to venture into the realm of mobile games while working for Playdom, which was later acquired and rebranded as Disney Interactive, working with … Continue reading

Howard Marks is Co-Chair of Start Engine and CEO of Gamzee. Howard is an incredibly successful technology entrepreneur that has worked with a number of companies specializing in the video game, online gaming, social gaming and internet education industry. He is also working as the CEO of Gamzee, a company he founded in April 2011 with the stated goal of disrupting the gaming industry by making games that anyone can play anywhere, anytime, and on any device. In 2005, Howard founded Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he became head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard got his start in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1991 as a co-founder, member of the board of directors and Executive Vice-President of Activision, Howard helped turn a brand that was largely viewed as dead weight into the leading powerhouse of the video game industry.Samit has held global senior management positions at Universal, EMI, and Sony. As Executive Vice President of Sony, Samit implemented a profitable global digital ecommerce strategy for Sony and built a new division from scratch — making Sony the #7 largest ecommerce site in the world. As Global President of Digital Distribution & Development for EMI, he broke new ground for the music industry launching digital businesses in over 30 countries. As Senior Vice President of Universal, Samit built one of the first on-line million member social networks in the 1990s and sat on the Studio's overall steering committee. He received 2011 Pewter Owl for Social Media, the 2010 OMMA Award for Best Online Advertising, the first Gold Record for digital from the RIAA, won gold from the PMA for producing Sheryl Crow's Concert in the Sky, and won Gavin Executive of the Year in 2000.Samit's charity work ranges from the first Internet Charity Auction to Tsunami Aid (with NBC) and Concert for Hurricane Relief (with MTV).Samit has produced over 100 video games garnering Best of Show awards at Comdex, CES, E3 and Retailvision. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samit was presented the Leonardo Da Vinci Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to digital media.-infuse creative is a digital marketing pr reputation development security company-vizual now is a tv, film and web content creation company and creator community-loveliife is a start up that will use technology to make relationships better-finishing an EP for release later this year and he will have a song in a film coming out in September by an Emmy award winning director who is also running for congress

Howard Marks is Co-Chair of Start Engine and CEO of Gamzee. Howard is an incredibly successful technology entrepreneur that has worked with a number of companies specializing in the video game, online gaming, social gaming and internet education industry. He is also working as the CEO of Gamzee, a company he founded in April 2011 with the stated goal of disrupting the gaming industry by making games that anyone can play anywhere, anytime, and on any device. In 2005, Howard founded Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he became head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard got his start in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1991 as a co-founder, member of the board of directors and Executive Vice-President of Activision, Howard helped turn a brand that was largely viewed as dead weight into the leading powerhouse of the video game industry.Sometimes there just aren't any products out there that fit a specific need, like soap or shampoo for a baby's delicate exterior. Inspired by her children's need for products developed for ultra-sensitive skin, Christine Burger founded Noodle & Boo. Working with professionals who specialize in natural, holistic skin care each exclusive formula is developed to nourish, replenish and protect especially delicate and sensitive skin. And today you will learn first hand how Christine did this, and how you can do something like this your self!The company is lovingly named after Christine's two young children, Andrew and Matthew, also known as Noodle and Boo. More recently, on a goodwill trip to Ethiopia, Christine met her daughter Dibora who rounds out the family perfectly.

Tracey Russell joined LA MARATHON LLC with nearly two decades of race management experience. At the Atlanta Track Club (ATC), under her leadership, both annual sponsorship revenue and the organizational budget doubled during her six-year tenure, more than 15 new running and youth events were added to the ATC portfolio, and the club's membership tripled to more than 19,000 runners. Prior to her time at the ATC, Tracey spent 12 years with the Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers, which owns and produces 13 different sporting events annually. Since joining LA MARATHON LLC, she helped to secure Los Angeles as the site for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials for both men and women. Howard Marks is Co-Chair of Start Engine and CEO of Gamzee. Howard is an incredibly successful technology entrepreneur that has worked with a number of companies specializing in the video game, online gaming, social gaming and internet education industry. He is also working as the CEO of Gamzee, a company he founded in April 2011 with the stated goal of disrupting the gaming industry by making games that anyone can play anywhere, anytime, and on any device. In 2005, Howard founded Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he became head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard got his start in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1991 as a co-founder, member of the board of directors and Executive Vice-President of Activision, Howard helped turn a brand that was largely viewed as dead weight into the leading powerhouse of the video game industry.Richard “Ribbs” Gibbs (born in 1955 in Bay Village, Ohio) is an American film composer and music producer whose credits include the films Sweet Hearts Dance, Dr. Dolittle, Big Momma's House, The Book of Stars, Queen of the Damned and the television series Battlestar Galactica.Gibbs was the keyboard player for the New Wave band Oingo Boingo from 1980 to 1984. He was also a session player, performing on over 150 albums for artists as diverse as War, Tom Waits, Boy Meets Girl, Living in a Box, Robert Palmer, and Aretha Franklin. He also started with Michael Jochum the band Zuma II, which had an eponymously titled record released by Pasha/CBS Records. He has appeared live with Korn, The Staples, Chaka Khan, and Oingo Boingo.ELECTRA has invaded Hollywood like a storm. For the last 3 years the band has been performing relentlessly all over the Los Angeles and Orange County Area. They have opened up for some amazing artists such as Lita Ford, Berlin, Missing Persons, Great White, Jared Lee, Dilana, and were part of the 2010 Sunset Strip Music Festival along with Smashing Pumpkins, Slash, Neon Trees, and more, and the 2011 SSMF along with Motley Crue, Public Enemy, Bush and more. They currently have an EP available on itunes titled “Problem Child”. Their music video for their single “Problem Child” has currently reached over 60,000 views on youtube. In June 2013 ELECTRA raised $22,404 through Kickstarter, passing their original goal by $7,404, to help with the recording of their upcoming debut full length album. Their upcoming album, produced by Mike Plotnikoff (Halestorm, Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson), and titled “These Times” is scheduled to be released in the Summer 2014.

This ep with bring you tales of woe from PvP Season 14 with Fyfield, Grayson, BC, and Morlock, info from the latest stealth patch, and the best strategies in Share My Fire.If you have questions, comments, suggestions for future topics, or whatever, email us at TheCOMAcast@gmail.com. You can also find us at Facebook.com/theCOMAcast!

Our first episode! First we'll hear from Morlock, Fyfield, Grayson, and Animalxer talking about SpeOps 16 and the fallout from PvP Season 13. After that Firegobbo goes in depth with each of the new alts - War, Famine, Death, and Pestilence. If you have questions, comments, suggestions for future topics, or whatever email us at TheCOMAcast@gmail.com. You can also find us at Facebook.com/theCOMAcast!

James Morel Founder of LottoGopher.com .How do you provide ongoing strategic consulting, business plans, investor pitch decks, marketing plans, advisory board services and digital platform development to small businesses? James Morel gives our listeners a rare glimpse into strategic startups, and where to go after your business is up and running. Current and past website clients include: photo sharing platform, emergency services, streaming music, digital downloads, stock photography, cable advertising agency, talent casting and media workflow management platform. Howard Marks is Co-Chair of Start Engine and CEO of Gamzee. Howard is an incredibly successful technology entrepreneur that has worked with a number of companies specializing in the video game, online gaming, social gaming and internet education industry. He is also working as the CEO of Gamzee, a company he founded in April 2011 with the stated goal of disrupting the gaming industry by making games that anyone can play anywhere, anytime, and on any device. In 2005, Howard founded Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he became head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group. Howard got his start in 1983 while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1991 as a co-founder, member of the board of directors and Executive Vice-President of Activision, Howard helped turn a brand that was largely viewed as dead weight into the leading powerhouse of the video game industry.Walter W. Grieves has extensive experience in the finance and corporate sectors amassed over the last 17 years. Upon completing his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, Walter went to work for Research Magazine/Multex Data Group where he managed the International Investor Relations Division. Mr. Grieves then went to work for Morgan Stanley spending time between the Wailuku Maui Branch and the World Trade Center location in New York City. Further looking to expand his experience in the securities industry, Mr. Grieves partnered with a group of Securities Attorneys structuring, capitalizing and restructuring small publicly traded companies. Mr. Grieves is pleased to serve ROC integrating corporations, entrepreneurs, investors, and professional organizations into the largest open source workspace solution in the greater Los Angeles area.

Bio: Tamir Nadav is a game designer, former programmer, and a valedictorian baccalaureate graduate of Full Sail in 2005. He has been involved in the industry for over 8 years with his enthusiastic networking abilities, and can be seen at many different events and schools, assisting current students in preparing to enter the industry. Aside from his duties as a designer, Tamir has been consistently speaking at conventions and universities on business communications, how to meet people, and how to get a job in the game industry. He has quickly become a known name and face in this industry, and built a vast network of industry peers, both young and old. He has been interviewed by EGM, IGN, and was featured in the popular how-to book published by Prima Games, Paid to Play: An Insider's Guide to Video Game Careers. Tamir has spent 6 years in the MMO space, and currently is working on social games at Playdom, in Palo Alto, CA. Presentation: Was recorded at the University of Advancing Technology Tech Forum Spring 2012

As a follow-up to the February 2011 Colloquium -- and as a forerunner to the 2012 AG Colloquium titled "Social and Video Games" -- this Conversation explores the evolution of social games and the people who play them. Mensa member Gordon Walton, VP and Executive Producer at Playdom Austin, joins Dr. Mia Consalvo, Visiting Associate Professor of Comparative Studies at MIT, to discuss Dr. Consalvo’s research with regard to the development of social interaction and communities via online gaming.

Casual games are storming the Internet and the Cavebabble household. Tonight, we delve into the world of Zynga, Playfish and Playdom, as we babble about Facebook games. Take a break from the point 'n click, and join us! This episode is brought to you by Clicky the Mouse.

Interviews about game development with Bay Area Video Game Development Meetup members at the January 19, 2010 meetup.Casey Holtz, group leaderTuri Scandurra, www.salvatorescandurra.comGreg Damiano, PlaydomSimon Amarasingham, dSonicJapheth Dillman, iJanda.net